London Borough of Merton

The complainant submitted a request for correspondence between Merton Council and the Inspectors appointed for the Public Examination of the draft Local Plan. Merton Council (the Council) refused to provide the information requested citing regulation 12(4)(d) of the EIR. The Council later also relied upon regulations 12(4)(b) and 6(1)(b) of the EIR to withhold the information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was entitled to rely on regulation 12(4)(b) to withhold the information in scope of the request and that the public interest favours maintaining the exception. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps as a result of this decision.